Monday (June 29) night, Verzuz fans took a trip to the Big Apple for the latest edition of the Instagram Live battle featuring New York rap legends Fabolous and Jadakiss. In this head-to-head showdown, each hip hop heavyweight had the chance to showcase their greatest hits to an audience of hundreds of thousands of virtual viewers including DJ Self, King Combs, La La Anthony, Troy Ave, Diddy, Slim Thug, Angie Martinez, Beenie Man, Joe Budden, DJ Envy, Vanessa Simmons, Snoop Dogg and the New York Knicks.
Check out the biggest highlights from the face-off below.
1. Heavy-Hitting Collaborations:
Jadakiss started out strong with his feature on DMX’s “Blackout” and Fabolous followed with his feature on Lil’ Wayne’s “Nuthin On Me” with Juelz Santana. Kiss kept it in the family of collaborations with The LOX’s “Recognize” and Fab came through with Cassidy’s “6 Minutes” featuring himself and Lil’ Wayne. Neither one of these MCs were going easy on the other.
2. Jadakiss’ Outfit:
All yellow errthang! Jadakiss brought the sunshine indoors with his all-yellow fit including fitted cap, shirt and shorts.
3. R.I.P Black Mamba
Fabolous switched the vibe with his feature on Diddy’s “Trade It All” with Jagged Edge. He paid respects to the late Kobe Bryant as he reminisced on the first time he met the basketball star on set. “Take a shot for Kobe Bryant real quick,” Fabolous raised his cup of Ciroc. “Rest in peace to the Black Mamba,” Jadakiss added.
4. To The Islands
Like a true New Yorker, Fab took us back to his song “Run Away” known for it’s Caribbean-infused hip hop vibes.
5. “No Story”
Before dropping N.O.R.E.’s “Banned From TV,” Jadakiss said “no story.” No introduction needed, just drop that sh*t. When your songs are that fire, you don’t need to introduce anything. That’s that.
6. Technical Foul
“Hold on, I’m on this song! This is a technical!” Jadakiss screamed as Fabolous played Jeezy’s “OJ” featuring battle buddy Jadakiss.
7. Ghetto Fabolous
“Can’t Deny It” featuring Nate Dogg brought viewers back to ghetto Fabolous from back in the day and we couldn’t have been happier. O’Shea Jackson, Jr.; DJ Drama and Papoose brought fire emojis to the comments section not too long before Jadakiss dropped The LOX’s “F*ck You.”
8. All The Way Turnt Up
Jadakiss was having the time of his life — probably more than we’ve seen on any other Verzuz battle. The rapper was lit and the true definition of a party of one.
9. For The Ladies
“We ain’t shout out the ladies yet. All the Black sisters,” Fabolous raised a cup to the independent women in the building before playing “You Be Killin Em.” Lil’ Kim, Juju, and Natalie Nunn were all getting it in their virtual seats, as they joined in for the 2010 hit. Next up for the women was Fab’s Ne-Yo collaboration “Make Me Better.”
10. That’s All Folks — Sike
The live cut off for a few minutes for unknown technical difficulties, but Fabolous hopped right back into it with “Can’t Leave You Alone.” Jadakiss followed up Fab’s Lil’ Mo and Mike Shorey collaboration with LOX’s own “Ryde Or Die, Chick” featuring Drag-On and Eve.
11. The “So Into You” Mystery
Fabolous cleared up the story about Ashanti and Tamia, and their two versions of his “So Into You” single. After telling the story of Tamia’s throat surgery and Ashanti’s busy schedule due to her musical takeoff at the time, Fab dropped Jadakiss’ favorite from his competitors discography as the two bopped along. “Noooooo, Imma text u and tell u the real story!” Ashanti added in the comment section with laughing emojis. Oop!
12. A Remix To Remember
“Shawty Is A Ten” and “Say Ahh” are two of the hits that DJ Boof put together for Fabolous’ exit mix while ending with “Doin’ It Well” featuring Nicki Minaj and Trey Songz. Jadakiss hit us back with Mya collaboration “Best Of Me,” Mary J. Blige’s remix of “Family Affair” and “Smoking Gun” with Jasmine Sullivan.
Relive Jadakiss and Fabolous’ Verzuz with Tidal’s playlist below: